Illustration Friday: influence

I have a special relationship with a copy machine at my local Staples store. Well, several copy machines, if you must know. Sometimes my attentions go to the black and white machine, and other times I turn my affections toward the full color machine. Full color copies cost about five times more, but they are so worth the pain: to see a smaller version of my newest watercolor painting, or a larger version of a favorite Klee painting from a library book (which I can then, guilt free, cut out and paste into my scrapbook), is a feeling beyond price.

But last week I went in search of copying pleasure on, alas, the first day of High School. The parking lot was packed, and a crazed SUV driver pulled a definitely-illegal full-reverse down the lane I was slowly–lucky for me–moving into. Instead of an almost-empty store with the typical few and elusive employees, I found check-out lines twenty people deep, clerks madly rushing about, loud sales announcements, and aisles crowded with harried mothers and their oh-so-cool, socially correct teenagers. Most striking of all, I found a considerable amount of female teenage flesh on display.

Now…I am not a male of the species and admittedly I’ve been living rather a closeted life lately. I’d forgotten that Life–and Fashion–goes on, as does the News, Government, and Television. I had no idea that the ‘Britney Spears‘ attire was still in strong evidence, and indeed, had accelerated. Perhaps there are even newer, younger Pop Stars out there who’ve taken her approach to further extremes? Whatever the reason, that day at Staples, there were a lot of under-sixteen girls under the influence of this trend, and wearing (as my Grandmother would have put it) “Hardly more than a handkerchief.” And they weren’t looking at all embarrassed…quite the opposite, in fact.

The last time I was wearing scarcely any clothing as a teenager, was the Graduation Pool Party in 1971. It was the first time most of us (of opposite sex) had seen each other with less than shorts and t-shirts, and I can still remember feeling acutely uncomfortable. My beach towel was my closest friend that day, and my hard-earned tan was not nearly enough to hide behind. I was shy by nature, but even so, very few of us back then were strutting in the Britney way.

Don’t get me wrong…I am all in favor of the beauty of the female body. (Although, all things being equal, I would choose Eileen Fisher over shredded jeans, push-up tops and studded belts any day…) But this trend seems to be something else entirely. What is the point, I ask myself? After all, without all of the Display and Parade, I (and my mother, grandmother and her grandmothers before her) managed to attract loving relationships and reasonably fulfilled lives. Most of us females even produced children. All based on having qualities and attributes that were apparently attractive to the opposite sex, and deeper–and more long lasting I might add–than youthful flesh and the mandate to Go Forth And Multiply. It is quite a mystery to me: why has the mating ritual been reduced to such a bare minimum? Perhaps this is the reason that the divorce rate is so high?

Don’t get me started on teenagers with big bellies wearing the Britney Spears look with insouciance. Or middle-aged mothers who dress like their daughters. I’m feeling my age, and better go lie down now…

“Walk This Way” (detail) (watercolor, pen & ink)

It’s the last weekto enter artwork or vote for your favorite re-imagined book covers at Undercover Cover Art‘s new Blog Launch Contest. If you are in the voting mood, my own entry, “The Girl With Silver Hands,” would really appreciate your vote! Type “Susan Sorrell Hill” in the Search By Artist box, and follow the link to the Yellow Stars. When you’ve clicked on your preferred Star, the words “Thank You” should appear just to the right if you’ve voted successfully. Voting ends August 30th. A heartfelt “Thank You!” to all who’ve voted for my entry already.

A girl after my own heart, you be! I ask all the same questions and I’m always wondering why a belly (sometimes not a very attractive one at that) or pants so tight it looks painful are displayed with such pride. My question is don’t they have a mirror? Honest friends? I’d say parents, but I did have friends that would leave the house wearing one thing and then change in the woods on the way to the bus… Anyway, off my peach box, but I so love your take on “influence”! Your art always makes me stop, admire, and want more.

Susan, I feel what you’re saying! I’ve been noticing this for a few years and these youngsters have taken the saying, “Less is more” to a different extreme. I am the mother of a very modest 16.5 year old and she shakes her head in amazement at these deep flesh revealing outfits! lol!

One, thing, I have realized is that these young women do look in the mirror before they go out, and they believe that they look fine in these outfits; actually I think that most folks, when they go out don’t think they look bad in what they have on, they think they look fine! I’m just not sure what they see when they look in these mirrors.

But, judgment won’t change them or anything else, :) I think I’m just relieved that my teenager is so level-headed…except when I’m telling her anything…:)

I’ve asked teenagers “What are you trying to achieve?” Their answers usually come in shades of they “have to” wear what everyone else is wearing (or not wearing). If I ask why they have to give their personal authority to someone else, they get befuddled and can’t answer since they’ve never really thought out the answer to that question. I asked one girl what would happen if she wore purple when green is the color for the year? She stuttered and looked like I had messed up the entire order of the universe. I followed up by asking what if she looks great in purple and terrible in green — what’s more important, looking good or fitting in? The poor girl had a near melt-down over the ramifications of the question, but it points out the source of the problem. Kids don’t think well for themselves. Adults need to put some effort into steering them right instead of following kids’ trends, which includes plastic surgery on children, tattoos, piercings, and all sorts of other self-mutilations. I’m so glad I’m not a teenager any more!!

Oh my! What a marvelous post! I teach in a high school and see daily the “influences” of fashion, and don’t really understand it either. The biggest fashion crime, in my view, is the wearing of tight tops that accentuate the bulges of all but the most annorexic girls (or women, as it seems that all age groups have embraced this trend).

And I also wanted to say that your comment on my last picture was ENORMOUSLY encouraging to me. It made me feel so good, that it’s actually prompting me to do more work (I’d gotten really really busy with the start of the school year). Thank you so much!

Love how you presented these copycat themes, with your delightful painting and related post!
You know what they say about the apples not falling far from the trees. It’s all about the cultivation! Here’s to the art of aging gracefully! :o)

Welcome!

I am an artist who also writes, working mostly in watercolors. Timeless stories and that most interesting of questions, "Why?" inspire me, and the symbology and archetypes found in fairy and folk tales are especially intriguing. (Grimm's style, not Disney.) I have been a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators since 2011 and two of my own illustrated tales are currently seeking their publishers.

❦ For queries of any sort, please visit the Contact page at www.susansorrellhill.com